Gutters perform useful functions including protecting houses and foundations from water damage. However, many people are injured each year from ladder falls while cleaning gutters. In addition, having gutters professionally cleaned can be costly since gutters generally have to be cleaned multiple times a year.
There are many products available designed to keep the gutters from clogging up, but they all have their drawbacks. Gutter sponges and screens tend to clog up over time, and solid gutter covers let debris such as pine and fir needles in along with water through openings.
There are multiple types of previously-proposed self-cleaning gutters. Each type has its own problems and disadvantages. Consequently, none of these gutters seems to be available commercially today.
Perhaps the most popular type is the content dumping type. These gutters can be turned upside down and have its content fall to the ground when cleaning is needed. Some of them have hinges and some of them can be rotated. The turning and rotating mechanisms include levers and chains. Main disadvantages of these systems include the fact that gutters are generally long and turning and rotating from one end or even from the middle would make long gutters twist significantly. In order to prevent twisting, gutters would have to be made quite stiff requiring significantly more material and manufacturing cost. In addition, these turning and rotating mechanisms can be quite complex thus can be costly and unreliable.
Other types include built-in cleaning tools such as coils and water-jets. However, each type has its own issues such as clogging and limited effectiveness. None of these systems seems to be commercially available, indicating that reliable and cost-effective implementations are likely not available.